


Off Guard

by asroarke



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, F/M, Fluff, Mutual Pining, POV Bellamy, guard!Bellamy, jealous!Bellamy, princess!clarke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-10
Updated: 2018-02-10
Packaged: 2019-03-16 02:12:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13626390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asroarke/pseuds/asroarke
Summary: “You have to figure out your opponent’s weakness if you want to beat them,” he added in, and Clarke cocked her head to the side. He could see the gears turning in that head of hers as she stepped toward him. “Unfortunately for you, I have no weaknesses,” he joked, and a giggle escaped her lips.“So, there is absolutely nothing I can do that would catch you off guard?” she asked curiously, and Bellamy cocked his head to the side… trying to figure out what was going through Clarke’s head.“You are more than welcome to try,” he chuckled, earning a smirk from Clarke.Royalty AU where Bellamy tries to teach Clarke how to use a sword, and she finds her own sneaky way to beat him.





	Off Guard

**Author's Note:**

  * For [eruditeprincess](https://archiveofourown.org/users/eruditeprincess/gifts).



> Happy Valentine's Day!

Prince Finn was easily Bellamy’s least favorite of Clarke’s suitors. He was just too _much_. Bellamy had been watching him and Clarke talk for almost half an hour now, and Finn had already interrupted Clarke five different times. He was a bit too into making physical contact with Clarke. And that was not just Bellamy’s jealousy talking. He could tell Clarke was not comfortable with it either based on the way her jaw would twitch when he would grab her hand.

To Clarke’s credit, there was no way Prince Finn could tell how annoyed Clarke was with him. She had inherited her mother’s ability to conceal her irritation with a soft smile. But Bellamy could tell. He knew what her real smile looked like. He could tell the difference between her real laugh, which was often a little too loud, and her forced one, which was perfectly soft and subtle. He could see how Clarke would get lost in her own thoughts while Finn was talking animatedly about something.

And even if he did not notice any of that, he certainly noticed when Clarke tapped the side of her glass three times as she took a sip… _their signal_. It was how Clarke would ask Bellamy to get her out of there without arousing suspicion. She had never used it before when meeting with a potential suitor, which meant Prince Finn was truly as obnoxious as he seemed from a distance.

“Your Highness,” Bellamy said calmly, careful to speak as soon as Prince Finn was done with his current train of thought.

“Yes?” Clarke asked, glancing up at him with raised eyebrows.

“Forgive the interruption, but an urgent matter has come up and you are needed,” he lied, and Clarke already was standing up. He made his way back to the doorway, giving her a bit of privacy so she could say goodbye to Prince Finn for the afternoon.

As she walked up to Bellamy, she was struggling to hide her smirk. The two of them walked in silence down the first two hallways before Clarke broke the silence.

“So, what was this urgent matter?” she teased.

“That the Princess was bored,” he smirked, and a small giggle escaped her lips before she covered her mouth with her hand. “What should we do while we pretend you are doing important princess things?” he teased, and Clarke stopped dead in her tracks with a huge grin on her face. And he knew the smile on his face likely mirrored hers. After all, her smile was the most contagious thing he had encountered in his life.

“There is one thing you promised we could do if the castle was relatively empty,” Clarke started, and Bellamy threw his head back. He did promise that he would teach her how to use a sword a few weeks ago… under the circumstances that there could not be a lot of people around. He had not considered that the opportunity would present itself so soon, since most of the royal family had made their way to the Summer Palace already, taking a vast majority of the staff with them.

“Do you really need to know how to use a sword? There will literally never be a moment you would need it since I’ll always be there for you with my sword ready,” he sighed, already leading them toward the staircase since he knew he was not going to win this argument. He did promise her, and it would make her happy. He already gave in.

“You had no problem teaching me about the constellations, and I did not _need_ to know about them,” Clarke grinned.

“I beg to differ,” he replied, raising an eyebrow at her.

Bellamy had been Clarke’s personal guard for a little over three years. She has been his closest friend for two of those three years. And he was not completely sure, but he thinks that he has been in love with her for at least one year. He tried his best to ignore his feelings for her. After all, she is a princess and he is a guard. There is no future for them, even if somehow she felt the same way. So, he was content to at least be close to her. That would have to be enough for him.

But ignoring his feelings for her was nearly impossible, especially since he spent every day watching her… seeing how sweetly she treated everyone around her, hearing her brilliant ideas when she sat in on meetings with her father, and feeling how her warmth filled the room when she smiled. Suppressing those feelings was a battle every single day.

 _A battle he lost every single day_.

“So, what was wrong with the Prince?” Bellamy teased as soon as the door was shut behind them.

“He never stopped talking,” she groaned, and he crossed his arms. “And clearly, no one warned him that I do not want a husband.”

“Oh, I am sure he heard that rumor,” Bellamy replied. In fact, everyone knew about Clarke’s frustration over meeting with suitors. She had turned away every single one so far, finding flaws in all of them. Personally, Bellamy had liked Prince Roan. But Clarke had a list of small flaws ready when he asked about Roan.

“Then, he is just an idiot,” she huffed, and Bellamy burst out laughing. “Besides, I hear he has someone else he would rather be courting. So, he will not be all that heartbroken.”

With a sigh, he went to hand Clarke a sword, ignoring the giddy way her eyes lit up.

As it turns out, Clarke already knew the basics. Prince Wells had taught her a little bit over the years, which made Bellamy’s job a bit easier.

Not that teaching Clarke anything was ever _easy_. She was so naturally talented at most things that she would get frustrated when she could not pick up another skill as easily.

And maybe it did not help that Bellamy kept teasing her. But he couldn’t help it. He rarely ever got to best Clarke in anything, so he was going to enjoy this for all its worth.

“Maybe I should have asked someone else to teach me,” Clarke groaned after Bellamy knocked her sword out of her hand.

“Someone you could actually beat?” he teased, his smirk growing by the second.

“How many times have you knocked the sword from my grasp?” she huffed as she picked it up, and Bellamy pressed his lips together.

“Princess,” he sighed, and she rolled her eyes. “How many years have I been training? Of course, I am going to be better at this than you.”

“Seven times. You knocked the sword out of my hand seven times,” she whined, glaring back at him teasingly. “Just once, I would like to return the favor.”

“Well, you need to start thinking more, then,” he replied smugly, and Clarke started groaning. “Think about it like chess. You need to understand your opponent well enough to anticipate their next move.”

“I know you quite well, Bellamy, but that does not seem to be helping me,” she mused, narrowing her eyes at him.

“Okay, I know you. You are a little too eager to swing at me, which means you are not prepared for defense. So, I wait for you to make a move, before I make mine. And I catch you off guard every time,” he explained, and Clarke furrowed her brow as she looked back at him. “You have to figure out your opponent’s weakness if you want to beat them,” he added in, and Clarke cocked her head to the side. He could see the gears turning in that head of hers as she stepped toward him. “Unfortunately for you, I have no weaknesses,” he joked, and a giggle escaped her lips.

“So, there is absolutely nothing I can do that would catch you off guard?” she asked curiously, and Bellamy cocked his head to the side… trying to figure out what was going through Clarke’s head.

“You are more than welcome to try,” he chuckled, earning a smirk from Clarke. Then, she dropped her sword again, this time purposefully. “Not a promising start,” he teased, before Clarke closed the distance between them. Before he could get another word out, she gripped the collar of his shirt, pulling him down before she crashed her lips onto his.

He stood there frozen, momentarily unsure of how to respond to the soft lips pressed against his. When his thoughts finally caught up with the fact that Princess Clarke was kissing _him_ , he dropped his sword and cupped her face between his hands. And then, he was kissing her back.

Her mouth was so warm against his, her cheeks soft beneath his touch. His thoughts were screaming at him, reminding him that this was wrong, that princesses do not end up with palace guards, that someone could walk in at any moment… but he could not bring himself to part from her sweet lips, the very lips he had been dreaming of for at least a year.

She ended up breaking the kiss, her blue eyes fluttering up toward him nervously. If his heart was not pounding before, it certainly was now. Then, Clarke’s lips twitched upwards into a small smile.

“I just knocked your sword from your hand,” she grinned, and Bellamy looked down, realizing she was technically right.

“Well, you sort of cheated,” he stuttered out, his head still reeling from the kiss. He was unsure what it actually meant to Clarke. After all, she knew as well as he did that there could be no future between them.

“Would you rather I not do that again?” she asked, her tone teasing… but her eyes were sincere. His heart started pounding itself out of his chest at that question… realizing that she was asking if he would want to be kissed by her again. And of course, he would. That kiss was already the greatest moment of his life, and he knew he would likely dream of it for the rest of his life.

“Clarke,” he whispered, and Clarke’s eyes softened at the sound of her name. She preferred to be called Clarke when it was just the two of them, but Bellamy found calling her “Princess” easier… it reminded him of the very reason he should not want her.

He was suddenly aware of how close the two of them still were, Clarke’s hand still resting on his chest as she gazed up at him. He could probably list every individual time that he and Clarke had touched, from the moment she grabbed onto him to catch her balance after stumbling to the night he carried her upstairs after she fell asleep in the library. And every time he felt a slight warmth at the contact. Yet none of them compared to the fire her kiss ignited within him.

“I am a guard,” he finally offered, unable to bring himself to go much further than that.

“Bellamy,” Clarke whispered, her other hand taking his hand. He blinked a few times, confused as to why she was being so soft with him, so tender. He was not the kind of person who got to marry a princess, and they both knew that. “Do you not know?”

“Know what?”

“That I love you,” she replied, and his lips parted. He was not sure if he heard her correctly. Surely, he misheard her. “Bellamy, the entire castle knew. How did you not know?” she huffed, and he blinked a few times.

“You love me?” he asked in disbelief, resting his hand over hers on his chest. He ran his thumb over the back of her hand as she nodded quickly, and he swore he must be dreaming.

He leaned forward, letting go of her hand so he could tilt her chin up. He searched her eyes for a moment, waiting for her to snap out of it and tell him that this was a bad idea. But she never did, so he pressed a slow kiss to her lips. Within seconds, Clarke’s arms were wrapped around his neck pulling him closer. His eyes fluttered shut as her lips parted… and he swore he did not know joy until this moment.

“I love you, Clarke. I have loved you for so long,” he murmured against her lips, feeling her lips twitch upwards into a huge grin.

“I know,” she whispered, and Bellamy rested his forehead against hers. Of course, she knew. As hard as he tried, he likely did not do a great job of masking his affection for her.

The two of them stood there for a few moments, just holding onto each other. His chest was vibrating with warmth as he held onto the woman he loved… the woman who loved him back.

“Wait,” Bellamy realized, his eyes fluttering open. “You said the whole castle knew?” His stomach dropped at the implication that the King and Queen would know of Clarke’s feelings for him.

“Yes, a fact that I discovered a few months ago,” she sighed, but Bellamy was still tense. She shot him a reassuring look, and he took a deep breath. “My father was who brought it to my attention,” she explained, now looking down at the ground with a slight blush in her cheeks. “He realized that you were the reason I never wanted to meet suitors and decided to make a deal with me.”

“A deal?” he asked, cocking his head to the side in confusion.

“I had to meet with every suitor on my mother’s list and give each of them an earnest chance,” Clarke sighed, and Bellamy pressed his lips together. Clarke had been meeting with a lot of suitors in the past few months, sending each of them away politely, of course, but not without a well thought out list of why it would not work. “And if none of them worked, then he said I could choose my own,” Clarke replied, and Bellamy’s eyes widened in response.

“How many more are there?” he asked, as Clarke bit down on her bottom lip nervously. He stepped closer to her, cupping her cheek with his hand.

“Finn was the last on the list,” she whispered, her eyes searching his. He swallowed, realizing this was why Clarke wanted him to find a reason to end her meeting with Prince Finn early… she wanted to tell him _this_. She was nervously trying to read his face… as if she had a thing to be worried about. He loved her desperately. He was always going to be hers.

He turned his head slightly before leaning in again, letting his lips graze against hers for a brief moment before pressing them against hers. A sweet little hum escaped Clarke’s throat as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

He pulled away to pepper her face with quick little kisses, and she was grinning ear to ear… a sight that made his heart feel like it was going to pound itself out of his chest.

“I am yours, Princess,” he reassured as he rested his forehead against hers.

“And I am yours, if you will have me,” she replied with a soft smile.


End file.
